Charles Rene Magon de Medine

Charles Rene Magon de Medine (12 November 1763-21 October 1805) was a Rear-Admiral of the French Navy during the Napoleonic Wars. Magon de Medine was killed at the 1805 Battle of Trafalgar while commanding the 74-gun ship of the line Algesiras.

Biography
Charles Rene Magon de Medine was born in Paris, France on 12 November 1763 to a family of French nobles from Saint-Malo, and he joined the French Navy in 1777. Magon de Medine fought at Ushant during the American Revolutionary War before serving in the squadron of Francois Joseph Paul de Grasse's squadron during the war in the Caribbean, and he was captured by the British Royal Navy in 1782 towards the end of the war. He continued to serve in the navy during the French Revolution, and he was briefly arrested due to his aristocratic birth. In 1801, he commanded six ships during the Saint-Domingue expedition, and General Charles Leclerc saw to it that he was promoted to Rear-Admiral due to his excellence as a naval commander. In 1805, he attempted to board HMS Tonnant at the Battle of Trafalgar while commanding the ship Algesiras, and he was shot dead by a musketball after two earlier gunshot wounds. His name is inscribed on the Arc de Triomphe.